Spencer Daily Reporter: Local News: Clay County housing needs receive a boost (12/11/08)

Nearly $3.3 million in grants approved by the Iowa Finance Authority (IFA) board of directors will soon have a direct effect on thousands of Iowans' housing, including those in Clay County. Designed to aid in the development and preservation of affordable housing throughout the state, the State Housing Trust Fund's Local Housing Trust Fund Program grants will impact Iowa families through 17 local housing trust funds across the state. In turn, the respective $94,181 and $235,453 grants allocated will be used for initiatives such as subsidizing local down payment assistance programs, providing low-interest loans or grants to assist Iowans in home rehabilitation, financing construction of new single-family housing for low-income Iowans, supporting transitional housing programs and homeless assistance.

Pam Virelli, Kris Vodraska and Burlin Matthews filed a Clay County housing assistance plan in late July. They then spent the next several months working on the application submitted by the newly-formed Clay County Local Housing Trust Fund (CCLHTF), a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization, to the IFA.

In receiving the $94,181 grant, the three effectively demonstrated there's a need for assistance with housing in Clay County. Virelli, Vodraska and Matthews also furnished an acceptable two-year timeline for potential CCLHTF activities, met the local match required and proved that there would be the administrative capacity needed to oversee the fund locally.

The letter accompanying the CCLHTF's approved grant application stated the IFA board was impressed with the local fundraising efforts that had occurred to date in Clay County.

"We had to have a $25,000 match to that date," Virelli said. "Although we still have some commitments coming in, on the day we submitted the application, we had a total match of $76,351."

Other $94,181 grant recipients include the Fayette County Local Housing Trust Fund, the Floyd County Housing Trust Fund and the City of Oskaloosa Housing Trust Fund. Recipients awarded $235,453 grants included the Scott County Housing Council, the Sioux City Housing Trust Fund, the Dallas County Local Housing Trust Fund, the Iowa Northland Regional Housing Council, the Homeward Housing Trust Fund, the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County, the City of Dubuque Housing Trust Fund, the Southwest Iowa Housing Trust Fund, Inc., the COG Housing, Inc., the Polk County Housing Trust Fund, the Housing Fund for Linn County and the Southern Iowa COG Housing Trust Fund.

Of the 17 local housing trust funds approved for grants, Clay County's was the only new one established this year.

Local impact of grant

The money received will be used to assist residents with incomes at or below 80 percent of the Clay County median family income.

"Our emphasis will be on those households with incomes that are equal to or less than 30 percent of the Clay County median family income. As of Feb. 13," Virelli explained, "the median family income for Clay County was $52,300."

"At this point," she continued, "we're going to be looking at homeowners, people who are in their own homes. We hope that if this goes on for years and years that we also can someday work with people who have rentals available to low-income families, to help them improve their properties so that people are living in safe and affordable housing here in Clay County."

Another emphasis will be placed on the county's senior citizens. The population estimate for Clay County in 2006 indicated 18 percent, or 3,127 individuals, of the county's residents are 65 years of age or older.

"Of those senior citizens who are 65 or older, they occupy 41.5 percent of the housing units in Clay County," Virelli said. "And of those seniors who live in those units, 76.1 percent are owned and occupied by them."

CCLHTF board members, meanwhile, have not yet decided how potential funds will be distributed. While they could be allocated as grants to approved applicants, they may also come in the form of a very-low or no-interest loan that could be paid over a period of time and require homeowners to reside in their homes for a set number of years. Gap funding, which would allow individuals to receive a loan for extra household projects, may also be approved as the method of distribution.

"Eventually, we hope to help people with down payment assistance," Virelli said. "But this first year, I'm pretty sure what we'll be looking for is people who have a roof that's leaking, and they have no way to get it fixed without our help, or they have a furnace that's shot, and they have no way to do anything about it without our help. Initially, that's what we're going to be looking for: People who maybe can't even get a loan for some reason and they're sitting there in a house that has an unsafe furnace or roof that's completely dilapidated."

Virelli also noted the IFA emphasized that it was not going to give the CCLHTF any money unless they could prove its sustainability.

"So, we're going to be looking to continue to find grants, significant grants and donations," she said.

Board members also plan to contact, and then work with, all Clay County providers helping people.

"They might know some people that need this help. So, we hope to also find some people that way," Virelli said. "Maybe somebody won't make an application, but we'll find out from Upper Des Moines or somebody like that that there's somebody who needs our help. So, there's going to be a lot of collaboration on our part with organizations here in Clay County that are designed to help folks.

"We do want this to go on forever and be a sustainable project that doesn't end with one or two years or even five years. And, obviously for that to happen, we're going to need help."

For more information on the CCLHTF, continue checking the Clay County Web site for an application and deadlines. CCLHTF board members Virelli,

Vodraska, Dave Jacobsen, Clinton Jones, Chad McCarty, Verland "Bud" Meyer, Scott Kramer -- or ex-officio members and Clay County Supervisors Matthews and Linda Swanson -- may also be contacted.

From the Clay County Local Housing Trust Fund, Inc. housing assistance plan:

* According to the 2000 census, there were 306 families below the poverty level in Clay County.

* The mission of the CCLHTF is to ensure that Clay County residents have access to well-maintained, safe and affordable housing in both the rural and urban areas of the county.

* The emphasis of the CCLHTF will be to provide economic assistance to low-income residents in Clay County for a variety of housing needs. The CCLHTF plans to address and invest in projects to repair, preserve and rehabilitate Clay County's aging housing stock. The emphasis will be toward the rehabilitation of owner-occupied housing units. The major responsibilities of the CCLHTF board of directors will be to obtain funding and manage those funds. The board is responsible for establishing procedures to distribute available funds in an equitable manner to benefit the low, very low and extremely low income residents of Clay County. Funds will be distributed through forgivable and non-forgivable loans.

* Funds provided by the State Housing Trust Fund, and matching Clay County funds, will barely scratch the surface of the county's affordable housing need. However, these and other funds will help to plant the seeds needed to grow affordable housing in Clay County. It is the intent of the CCLHTF board of directors to assist 35 low, very low and extremely low-income families in Clay County during the first two years of operation.